Tuesday, October 8, 2013

TerraTrike Velomobile Tail Light From Design To Reality

A couple of days ago I posted a computer design that I put together of the new tail light assembly that I have planned for the TerraTrike Velomobile project.  Today all the pieces of the puzzle came together so I thought I might as well show you how it all turned out.


 Shown in this photo are all the components for the tail light assembly.  The yellow box shape in the upper left is the outer housing.   To the right of this is the inner light mount, then the ultra bright Hotshot bicycle light from Cygolite.  Then the red face place below the light and finally the 4mm bolts and threaded rod connectors.


First the light is slid into the inner light mount with a small clip that is on the back of the light.


Next the light and mount are inserted into the outer housing.


Finally the red outer face plate is added to the assembly and held into place using the 4mm hardware.  This outer face plate frames the flashing tail light perfectly and keeps the light locked into the outer housing. This housing will then be mounted permanently into the rear of the velomobile and will never be removed.  To turn the light on or off or change the flashing pattern of the light is accomplished with two external buttons on the face of the light.  The internal rechargeable battery in the light will only have to be recharged once every 100 to 500 hours or so.  This all depends on the flashing pattern that is chosen while in use.  
  The 3D printer did a wonderful job of making the parts for this portion of the project and it is a shame that the only thing that anyone will see of the light will be the red face plate and the light itself once it is mounted into the body.  The rest of the yellow outer housing will be hidden in the body of the velomobile.  I am just happy it turned out as well as it did and will make it that much safer for me to drive the velomobile night or day. So this is just one more thing that I can cross of my to do list on this project.  Total hours now have come up to 292 hours.  A long build but with some nice results for my efforts.

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